1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of analysis of a test sample for the presence of a constituent. More particularly, it relates to a composition capable of producing a detectable response in the presence of the constituent. Such a composition lends itself to the detection of hydrogen peroxide, peroxidase, peroxidatively active substances, various reducing sugars, hypochlorite and other analytes.
The analysis of test samples for the presence of sugars finds utility in many unrelated arts. Thus, the present invention pertains to such diverse arts as the brewing industry, biochemical research and medical diagnostics. In the brewing industry, for example, starch is converted to sugars, such as maltose, prior to actual fermentation. The presence of maltose is therefore carefully monitored to assure high yields from the grain starting material. Many biochemical systems require glucose in carefully controlled concentrations as their cellular energy source, and the research of such systems necessitates that these concentrations be carefully monitored. The medical profession utilizes sugar unalysis to a great extent in diagnosing and controlling such diseases as diabetes mellitus, which manifests itself by abnormally high glucose concentrations in the blood and urine.
Likewise many analytical methods are presently available for detecting the presence of peroxidatively active substances in samples such as urine, fecal suspensions, and gastrointestinal contents. Hemoglobin and its derivatives are typical of such "peroxidatively active" substances because they behave in a manner similar to the behavior of the enzyme peroxidase. Such substances are also referred to herein as pseudoperoxidases. Peroxidatively active substances are enzyme-like in that they catalyze the redox reaction between peroxides and benzidine, o-tolidine, 3,3',5,5'-tetramethylbenzidine, 2,7-diaminofluorene or similar benzidine-type indicator substances, thereby producing a detectable response such as a color change. Most methods for determining the presence of occult blood in test samples rely on this pseudoperoxidase activity.
Thus, the field of the present invention extends to a very diverse assortment of pursuits. It finds applicability wherever sugar analysis becomes a matter of significance, be it in brewing, the food industry, scientific research or medicine. Moreover, it lends itself to a variety of techniques for determining the presence of a peroxidase or pseudoperoxidase. In fact, the present invention finds utility in any field where its unique propensity to exhibit a detectable response is adaptable. Any system which can ultimately provide H.sub.2 O.sub.2 as a reaction product or which contains peroxidase or a pseudoperoxidase is ripe for application of the present invention, as are other systems such as swimming pool water containing hypochlorite and other strongly oxidizing systems.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The history of sugar analysis is perhaps most noteworthy because it has seen dramatic change over the years, both in the basic chemistries utilized and in its format. For the most part these analyses can be characterized as oxidizing systems which, when reduced, initiate reaction conditions leading to a detectable response, such as a color change or change in wavelength of ultraviolet light absorbed or reflected by the system. Thus, reducing sugars will convert silver oxide to metallic silver, and, if a solution of the sugar is applied to a piece of filter paper impregnated with silver oxide, a black dot develops. F. Feigl, Chem. Ind., Vol. 57, p. 1161, London (1938). Similarly, o-dinitrobenzene and the 3,4- and 3,5-isomers of dinitrophthalic acid give a sensitive color reaction (forming violet shades) when heated with reducing sugars in Na.sub.2 CO.sub.3. T. Momose, et al., Chem. Pharm. Bull. Tokyo, Vol. 12, p. 14 (1964); F. Feigl, Spot Tests in Organic Analysis, 7th Edition, pp. 338-339, Elsevier Publ. Co., New York (1966).
But as early as 1849 it was known that reducing sugars would cause an alkaline solution of CuSO.sub.4 to precipitate the yellow to red Copper(I)oxide (or oxyhydrate). H. Fehling, Ann., Vol. 72 (1849). See also B. Herstein, J. Am. Chem. Soc., Vol. 32, p 779 (1910). This early milestone, known as the Fehling test, lent impetus to the development of a far more sensitive test which utilized silver oxide in ammonia, the so-called Tollens reagent, which reacts readily with reducing agents to produce a black precipitate of metallic silver, often forming a mirror on the inside walls of glass reaction vessels. B. Tollens, Ber., Vol. 14, p. 1950 (1881); Vol. 15, p. 1635, 1828 (1882).
Because of the relatively high incidence of diabetes mellitus and its accompanying serious clinical consequences, high interest from the biological and medical professions arose in new techniques for analyzing glucose levels in urine and serum. This keen interest led to the development of several procedures which deviate dramatically from their solution chemistry forbears. These utilize sophisticated biochemical systems which can be incorporated into dry, dip-and-read devices, used in solution or suspension techniques, or in conjunction with spectrophotometers and other hardware.
Of these new techniques, the present invention lends itself especially well to an enzymatic system wherein the analyte, for instance glucose, is a substrate for a particular enzyme, the reaction products being capable of eliciting a detectable response from a family of indicator compounds known loosely in the art as "benzidine-type indicators". These will be more carefully defined, infra, but for the present suffice it to say these compounds can undergo color changes in the presence of hydrogen peroxide and the enzyme peroxidase. The glucose/glucose oxidase system exemplifies the prior art, wherein glucose is oxidized to gluconic acid with the concomitant formation of H.sub.2 O.sub.2 in accordance with: ##STR1##
It is the concomitant formation of hydrogen peroxide which facilitates the subsequent, indicator-related steps leading to observable color formation or other detectable response. Thus a benzidine-type indicator responds in the presence of hydrogen peroxide and peroxidase by changing its light absorptive capability.
In practice, this technology is presently utilized for glucose analysis in the form of dip-and-read reagent strips such as those marketed by the Ames Company Division of Miles Laboratories, Inc. under the trademark CLINISTIX.RTM. and others. Broadly, these comprise a plastic strip, at one end of which is mounted an absorbent paper portion impregnated with the appropriate enzymes, indicator compound and buffering agents as the principal active ingredients. They are used by dipping the reagent-bearing end into the test sample, removing it and comparing any color formed in the paper with a standard color chart calibrated to various glucose concentrations.
Several patents have issued which are deemed pertinent to the present invention with respect to its application to glucose analysis. U.S. Pat. No. 2,848,308, issued to Alfred H. Free, disclosed and claimed the basic enzyme chemistry whereby glucose oxidase, peroxidase and a benzidine-type indicator are used in a reagent strip to determine glucose in urine or other bodily fluid. U.S. Pat. No. 3,753,863, issued to Speck discloses the use of lower alkane polyols to "stabilize" indicator solutions of the benzidine type. Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 4,071,317, issued to Lam, discloses the stabilization of an occult blood-sensitive composition through the use of certain sulfone, sulfoxide and amide compounds as diluents during preparation of the composition. This latter composition comprises an organic hydroperoxide compound, and an indicator compound such as of the benzidine type.
As in the case of sugar analysis, several methods for peroxidase or pseudoperoxidase analysis have evolved over the years which rely on enzymelike catalysis of the oxidation of color-forming indicators in the presence of hydrogen peroxide. Primarily these include wet chemical procedures and "dip-and-read" type reagent-bearing strips. Of the former, a typical example is set forth in Richard M. Henry, et al., Clinical Chemistry Principles and Techniques Hagerstown, Maryland: Harper and Row (1974), pp. 1124-1125. This procedure involves the use of glacial acetic acid (buffer), diphenylamine (indicator), and hydrogen peroxide. While such wet methods have proven analytical ability, they are nevertheless fraught with obvious shortcomings, not the least of which are poor reagent stability and inadequate sensitivity. Inherent to such reagent solutions is a decline in stability (ergo sensitivity) so rapid that fresh reagent solutions must be prepared after several days of storage, a necessity resulting in both excessive time required of analytical personnel, and poor economy because of having to waste costly reagents.
A second method for the determination of peroxidatively active substances, and the one presently preferred by most clinical assayists and analysts, utilizes "dip-and-read" reagent strips. Typical of such devices are reagent strips manufactured by the Ames Company Division of Miles Laboratories, Inc. and sold under the name HEMASTIX.RTM.. These comprise, in essence, a porous paper matrix affixed to a plastic strip or handle. The matrix is impregnated with a buffered mixture of an organic hydroperoxide and o-tolidine. Upon immersion in a liquid containing hemoglobin, myoglobin, erythrocytes or other pseudoperoxidases, a blue color develops in the matrix, the intensity of which is proportional to the concentration of the peroxidatively active substance in the sample. Thus, by comparing the color developed in the matrix to a standard color chart, the assayist can determine, on a semi-quantitative basis, the amount of unknown present in the sample.
The advantages of reagent strips over wet chemistry methods are predominantly twofold: strips are easier to use because neither the preparation of reagents nor the attendant apparatus is required; and greater stability of reagents is afforded, resulting in greater accuracy, sensitivity and economy.
But the inherent advantages of strips over wet chemistry notwithstanding, the characteristics of stability and sensitivity are in need of still further improvement. Whereas these properties in current state-of-the-art strips for determining pseudoperoxidases and sugars are greatly preferred over those of wet chemical methods, there would nevertheless accrue a great advance in the art if such strips could be made even more stable during storage and even more sensitive to their respective analytes.
At least three attempts at improving pseudoperoxidase-sensitive systems are recorded in the prior art. A recitation in Chemical Abstracts Volume 85, page 186 (1976) describes a two-dip method for preparing occult blood-sensitive reagent strips containing o-tolidine and phenylisopropyl hydroperoxide. In this method, a solution was made of the indicator (o-tolidine.2HCl) and polyvinylpyrrolidone in ethanol. To this solution was added a small amount of surfactant and enough citrate buffer to provide a pH of 3.7. Filter paper strips impregnated with ethyl cellulose were dipped in this solution and dried. The thus-impregnated filter paper was subsequently dipped into a second solution containing 1,4-diazabicyclo[2.2.2]octane, phenylisopropyl hydroperoxide and polyvinylpyrrolidone dissolved in an ethanol-toluene mixture. The thrust of this experiment was to stabilize the peroxide and indicator combination through the use of the bicyclooctane derivative and the polyvinylpyrrolidone.
A second such method is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,853,471. This patent teaches the use of phosphoric or phosphonic acid amides where the substituent amido groups are primarily N-morpholine radicals.
Besides these attempts, there also exists the disclosure of U.S. Pat. No. 3,252,762 wherein the organic hydroperoxide is physically encapsulated within a colloidal material such as gelatin. Thus, when such a test strip is utilized, the aqueous test sample dissolves the gelatin capsules, thereby freeing the hydroperoxide for further reaction with the indicator in the presence of a peroxidatively active substance.
Each of these prior attempts was aimed at stabilizing the reagents so that the potentially incompatible reactive ingredients (hydroperoxide and indicator) would not prematurely combine and thereby render the test strips less sensitive. Hence, it can be said that the prior art methods were not directed towards the combined objectives of simultaneously enhancing stability and sensitivity, but rather they attempted to preserve existing sensitivity by preventing reagent decomposition during storage.
Another prior art reference which is of interest to the general concepts discussed herein is U.S. Pat. No. 3,236,850. This patent is directed towards stabilizing organic hydroperoxides used as catalysts and oxidizing agents. The patentees in this reference disclose the use of primary, secondary, or tertiary amine salts with organic peroxides. This reference is in no way directed toward reagent test strips.
To summarize the state of the art prior to the present invention, sugar-sensitive chemistries began to appear on the analytical scene as early as the middle of the 19th century with the advent of Fehling's solution and Tollens' reagent. Most of the "purely chemical" systems which have since emerged have been largely superseded by biochemical systems, particularly those which comprise a sugar oxidase, peroxidase and a peroxide-sensitive indicator of the benzidine type. These latter indicator compounds have been said to be stabilized by the presence of lower alkyl polyols.
Pseudoperoxidase-sensitive chemistries were also utilized early on as wet chemistry techniques, having given way to dip-and-read techniques involving an organic peroxide and an indicator, such as a benzidine derivative, impregnated in a carrier matrix. Attempts at stabilizing these reagents have included (a) the concomitant use of bicyclooctane and polyvinylpyrrolidone, (b) phosphoric or phosphonic acid amides, (c) physical separation of reagents using gelatin capsules, and (d) primary, secondary and tertiary amine salts.
Finally, a composition sensitive to the presence of occult blood in urine is taught to be stabilized if formulated in the presence of certain sulfone, sulfoxide and/or amide compounds. There is no teaching, to applicants' knowledge, anywhere in the prior art suggesting the presently disclosed and claimed composition and test device, or method for their use.